London studio Coffey Architects has accomplished The Tannery, a mixed-use mission in Bermondsey that mixes housing, artist’s studios and a gallery round a central courtyard.
Occupying the previous Wealthy Industrial Property that was as soon as the centre of Bermondsey’s Nineteenth-century tannery commerce, the three buildings by Coffey Architects are a part of a wider masterplan for the neighbourhood by architects AHMM for developer London Sq..
The buildings reference the world’s industrial heritage via their materiality and kind and are positioned alongside an current warehouse that has been retrofitted.
To the north, the gallery area for Tannery Arts and Drawing Room is housed in a low-lying brick constructing topped by a sawtooth roof with skylights for the exhibition areas under.
Alongside the gallery, the retained warehouse named Unit 12 has been used to deal with massive, dual-aspect flats, above a floor ground of artist studios with large glass doorways.
On both facet of the previous warehouse, two courtyards have been created. One is meant for the general public and is extra formal and paved, whereas the opposite is for residents and is completed with wild planting.
“The [resident’s] courtyard is wild and presents a really totally different character to the onerous paved public areas that encompass The Tannery,” founder Phil Coffey advised Dezeen.
“Throughout the positioning and rising masterplan the exterior areas have been designed to carry quite a lot of expertise to the world, to create a vibrant floor aircraft while sustaining privateness to floor ground properties,” he added.
Between the gallery and the warehouse, the positioning is reduce via by what Coffey Architects name the “Bar of Mild” – an extended, slim quantity containing flats surrounded by perforated aluminium shutters that give the block a glowing impact at night time.
Townhouse-style flats occupy the brick base of this elongated quantity, whereas above, the dual-aspect flats all have sheltered terraces overlooking the courtyard. They’ve particular person management of the exterior shutters to mediate gentle and air.
On the jap finish of the Bar of Mild, a big lobby and concierge area is outlined by a black concrete spiral stair at its centre that leads up into the flats.
“The dimensions of the ‘Bar of Mild’ started with the concept the dimensions of the objects and buildings on the Wealthy Property have been so immense that any new insertion also needs to specific its bulk/mass,” defined Coffey.
“The black concrete and metal stair work collectively to create a grand entry into the Bar of Mild – they’ve a monumentality that fits the dimensions of the expertise of transferring from floor ground into the Bar of Mild above,” he continued.
On the reverse finish of the positioning, a smaller block of flats is completed with textured brickwork and huge balconies overlooking the road.
Coffey Architects was based by Phil Coffey in 2005. The studio additionally made use of perforated aluminium for the lately accomplished Know-how Hub at Metropolis School Norwich, with the end designed to provide a sense of “gentle and airiness.”
Its different current tasks embody a coastal residence in Dorset and a Broadgate workplace with a devoted cycle-in entrance.
The pictures is by Phil Coffey.
